Chapter 5

Medical Care on Cruise Ship

8:30pm

“Please wait here, the doctor will be here any minute” the nurse said to the pair who didn’t even look at each other.
Yoona sat on the armchair which was opposite the couch where Yuri sat. Yoona turned her head away from Yuri even though she was completely aware of the death glares Yuri sent her. 

“I think you own me an apology.” Yuri decided to break the silence

*Silence*

“For what?” Yoona said still not looking at her.

“Great…Now you’re playing dumb with me?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

Yuri sighed, this conversation was going to go nowhere, she gave in and asked another one. “Then why were you stalking me?”
Yoona was caught off guard by that question. The word ‘stalk’ is a little harsh. Let’s just say she observed them as a completely objective third party. However she was not going to admit to Yuri that she ‘observed’ her.

“Please, the last thing I want to do is stalking you. I was just… doing my job as a Cruise Director”

“Really? I never knew that being a mascot was a part of your job description.”

“The person who was supposed to be the mascot was injured so I’m his replacement. That’s what we called ‘flexible in life’, miss smarty pants.” Yoona said as she lifted her fingers in an air-quote gesture as she turned around to look at her.

“You made it sounds like you’re the only one who can be the mascot among over 300 staffs on this cruise ship.” Yuri stubbornly argued.

“Now that I think about it, based on charms and looks…hmm… Maybe I’m the only one” Yoona her chin and pretended to think.

“You th-” As Yuri was about to talk back she heard Siwon’s voice

“Yuri, are you feeling alright?” he asked as he ran into the medical care.

Sending one last glare to Yoona, Yuri lifted her eyes to look at Siwon “I’m fine, thanks for worrying about me” Yuri softened her voice as she smiled at Siwon.

Yoona rolled her eyes when she heard Yuri’s soft voice ‘Jeez, just a moment ago she was shouting at my face and now she is smiling that beautiful smile of hers.’ Yoona thought as she bitterly admitted to herself that she felt something was boiling inside her.

“How about you, Yoona? Are you okay?” Siwon asked as he noticed Yoona was there.

Yoona shook the thought of Yuri out of her head and stood up from the armchair to greet Siwon properly, he was a customer after all “I think I’m fine but we’re waiting for the doctor to examine.” 

“Ah, I see. While I was running here, I heard you two were talking. Do you know each other before?” Siwon asked

Yoona startled for a moment because of that question then she made up her mind ‘What’s the point of lying, right?’ and she decided to answer truthfully “Yeah, we’re onc-”

“Friends, we’re old friends” Yuri quickly cut off; she looked at Yoona as if telling her to act along. She didn’t know why she was lying but let’s just say she wasn’t ready to reveal their past like this to anyone especially to someone she just met.

“That’s really great, I didn’t expect that you two are friends” Siwon said as he smiled brightly when he heard that information make Yoona and Yuri wondered ‘What is so great about them being old friends?’

“I think that I don’t really need a checkup right now. I just feel a little dizzy, heading back to my room would be a better option for me now.” Yuri said as she massaged her temple.

“I will walk you back to your room then.” Siwon offered.

“Thanks Siwon, that’s really nice of you” Yuri said, she still somehow didn’t feel comfortable around him perhaps because she wasn’t really sure about his intention toward her.

Yoona and Siwon bid goodbye to each other while Yuri looked away, avoided eye contact with her. As they walked out of the room, Yoona put her hand on her chest ‘I thought I can bring myself to forget her a long time ago but now what’s with all the feelings I’m experiencing?’

&&&&&&

Room A206

9:10pm

Yuri let out a heavy sigh as she closed the door. She leaned her head against the door and closed her eyes to recall what happened earlier. To sum it up, she felt disappointed. She didn’t really know that Yoona had this side of her, so cold, uncaring and not to mention rude. But what else did she know? She just spent 7 days with her after all, how naïve she was to believe that she actually could see through a person in just a week.

Yuri shook her head, tried to clear the thought of Yoona. She stepped into the room, expected to see Fany there. At this moment, she really needed someone to talk to. 

When she reached their bed, she saw Fany lying there with her hair disheveled. When she came closer to her friend and sit herself on the bed, she could smell the heavy alcohol on her breath.

“Seriously, Tiffany Hwang? You got yourself wasted on the first day of the trip already?” Yuri spoke out loud but the latter wasn’t even aware of her presence. Yet, another sigh escaped Yuri’s mouth. Then she chuckled when she noticed the way Fany was lying, she was lying on her tummy with her face buried in a pillow her hand raised in a surrendered position. ‘So much for staying by my side now, do you?’.

Yuri put a blanket over Tiffany and then climbed into bed with her. Be strong Yuri-yah, tomorrow is brand new day. Yuri thought to herself and soon fell asleep.

&&&&&&

10th February 2011

“So… Yuri-yah, are you really not going to visit your parents now? It’s been such a long time since you met them.” Fany asked Yuri while they were shopping in Beverly Center.

“Well, that’s my plan when she’s not here. What if when I told she couldn’t go because she was on a business trip and out of nowhere they came across each other.” Yuri raised a finger in a no-no gesture “Not a good plan at all. I’m just gonna visit them other times soon but not this time.”

The past two days, Yuri tried her best to avoid any contact with Yoona as much as possible but it seemed like they were two opposite poles of a magnet always attract each other. Yuri felt like there was only one staff on this cruise ship and that was Yoona. 

“If that’s the case then let’s enjoy shopping now, shall we?” Fany said, excited as she dragged Yuri to the shoe store.

“I should’ve asked you this two days ago but it just slipped my mind.” Yuri asked as she stopped Fany from running at full speed toward the store. “What did you do the day I went on a date with Siwon? You were totally wasted that day.”

Fany scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, tried to make out what Yuri was talking about. “The first day?”

Flashback

7th February 2011

7:00pm

“Another drink please.” Fany said to the bartender. She looked at the empty cup in her hand and let out a sigh.

“Here you go, miss” The bartender offered the drink she ordered and stood there to proceed what he was doing moments ago.

“You know what?” Fany who was slightly drunk said to the clueless bartender stood near her.

“Yes, Miss?” The bartender answered, not looking up from what he was doing completely uninterested in whatever she was going to say, he was so used to his customers who was drunk and confessed their secrets to him.

“Life is really such a b**** sometimes. It gives you a chance for one split moment and when you decide to take that chance it snatches it back right before your eyes.” Fany said as she thought about her situation with Taeyeon. “Why does she have to be my best friend’s enemy’s best friend? How am I gonna stand by Yuri’s side when I’m in love with her enemy’s best friend, you know?” Fany ranted about her problem at the bartender.

“Yeah…It’s really unfortunate. I’m sorry I can’t help you with anything” The bartender said even though he had absolutely no intention in helping her. That’s what they called ‘manner’.

“Whatever, just get me another drink” She didn’t know what life would bring her but as for now she just wanna get wasted.

End of Flashback

After around five more drinks, everything seemed like a blur in her memory. There’s only one thing that she didn’t seem to understand that how did she end up in her room. She guessed that one of those cruise staff carried her back to the room.

“Ah…Nothing…it’s just that I’m bored when you weren’t with me so I had to have fun by myself.” Fany decided to hide the real reason why she was drunk.

“Why do I always have the feeling there’s something when you said it’s nothing” Yuri said, suspiciously.

“Yah… are you saying that you don’t believe me?”

“Well, I di-” Yuri’s sentence was cut short by the sound of her cellphone. The phone read: You have 1 new message. She opened her phone to read the message.

From: Shikshin

Yah, meet me at the Coffee Bean on the sixth floor right now. Hurry, hurry.

“What is it?” Fany asked, curious.

“Message from Sooyoung, she told us to meet her at the Coffee Bean on sixth floor.”

“She’s here? In L.A?”

“Apparently so but… how does she know we’re at the Beverly Center?” Yuri asked, confused.

Fany shrugged, “Well we’d better hurry, you know Sooyoung, she probably lost her patience by now”

Yuri laughed at Fany’s joke or rather at Sooyoung’s patience then the duo started to run to the elevator.

&&&&&&

At The Grove

“Which club are we going to go tonight, Yoona?” Sica asked Yoona who was eating her ice-cream.

“I don’t know if I can party tonight because later I have to go to the headquarter in L.A with the captain.”

“Huh? Why? I thought only the captain have to go.”

“Well, he asked me to go with him because the CEO said he wants to see me.”

“Really, that’s good news. Do you think you’re gonna get a promotion soon?”

“Not sure, but being called to headquarter means either get a promotion or be fired. To me it’s two-edged sword thing.” 

“I don’t think so, your performance recently is really good. A promotion’s for sure” Sica raised her eyebrows as she thought about the possibilities. “What do you think, Taeyeon?” Sica said while turning to Taeyeon.

Taeyeon didn’t reply Sica instead she just stared into nothing. She seemed to be in deep thought. Sica and Yoona looked at each other and then they chuckled, both have the same thought in their head, 'A thinking Taeyeon? That’s rare.'

“Yah, are you listening to what we’re talking?” Yoona said as she nudged her.

“Huh? What did you just say?” Taeyeon who just came back from her day-dreaming said 

“Yah, what’s wrong with you these days? You seemed to be out of it most of the time.” Yoona asked her friend

“I was just… thinking about some stuff”

“Taeyeon-ah, you just used the word ‘I’ and ‘thinking’ in the same sentence. Are you feeling okay?” Yoona said as she raised her hand to feel Taeyeon’s forehead.

Taeyeon took Yoona’s hand off her forehead, “Yah, I’m serious.”

“Omo, I think something is wrong with my ears right now Sica-yah. I just heard Taeyeon said she’s serious.” Yoona turned to Sica while clapped her hand on either side of her ear to check her hearings. “Okay, my hearing is perfectly normal then there’s must be something wrong with Taeyeon.”

Sica laughed at Yoona’s playful act while Taeyeon was annoyed like hell. “Of course there’s nothing wrong with your ears Yoona-yah, she has been like this since I saw her came out of Yuri and Fany’s room the other day.”

“Wow, wow, wow, wow, what did I miss?” Yoona said, totally interested in the story.

“Well, remember the day you have to go to the medical care on cruise ship because of Yuri? That night, I saw her coming out of their room, looking all flustered and smelled like a moving Vodka bottle. Since you were with Yuri so I guessed the culprit made our Taeyeon become like this was none other than Tiffany Hwang.” Sica told Yoona her prediction as if she was Sherlock Holmes.

“Woah… I can’t believe I missed that” Yoona said, amazed, completely believe in Jessica’s analysis. She turned to Taeyeon “Did you do something with Tiffany Hwang, Kim Taeyeon? Did you take advantage of her while she wasn’t prepared? Why were you looking flustered after coming out of their room? Tell me why Taeyeon? Why? Why? Why?” Yoona treated Taeyeon like she was a criminal who was in a serious case.

Taeyeon looked at her over-reacting friends, who were easy to get excited over nothing. They were acting like a bunch of lunatics. Well, who was she to say this, she was also one of them. There’s a saying that ‘if you want to get to know someone, know their friends first’. “Well for the record, I didn’t do anything with her and that’s my final answer. Don’t try to ask anything else because I won’t answer to them.” Taeyeon said firmly which sent disappointment to both of her friends.

“Jeez, I was hoping that you could get more information than me, turned out you could only managed to get what I did.” Sica let out a sigh.

“You mean you’ve asked her before?” Yoona asked as she turned to Sica

“Not asking but interrogating her for almost one hour yet I didn’t have much information.” 

“How about we tricked her to tell us when she was drunk?”

“Great idea! How didn’t I think of that before?”

“Yeah… I know right? Didn’t I tell you I’m a genius?” Yoona said proudly while grinning at her ‘genius’ idea.

“Yah, yah, yah if you guys are going to plan some kind of your evil schemes then at least don’t talk about it in front of the victim. Well, do anything you want because even if I was drunk I wouldn’t tell anything. I promise myself that. And when Kim Taeyeon made a promise, that promise is kept.”

Yoona and Sica looked at each other and they realized that their plan wasn’t going to work this way. They both knew what they were gonna do next.

“Aish, this rascal” They said at the same time and then launched themselves at Taeyeon to tickle her.

&&&&&&

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Beverly Center

“Yah, why are you guys so late? Didn’t I tell you to come right now?” Sooyoung said to the two friends who were coming toward her table.

“Is this the proper way to greet your best friends, Shikshin? How about a ‘I miss you’? Maybe a ‘Hi’ would be fine.” Fany said as Yuri and her sit themselves on the chairs.

“This is my special way to greet my best friends. It’s one of a kind greeting which I only use for you two. You should feel honored.” Sooyoung reasoned.

Yuri looked at the three empty dishes on the table then turned to Sooyoung “Seriously, shikshin? You already finished three dished before we came?”

“Yah, I ordered these for you two but you guys didn’t make it, didn’t I tell you to hurry?”

“Yeah right, late. We came here in 15 minutes after receiving your message.” Fany said

“Okay, okay. I’ll order more for you two.” Sooyoung gave in and turned to the waiter. “Excuse me, can I have two more tiramisu please?”

“Wait, you don’t have to, we’re not hungry besides we just have our lunch” Yuri stopped Sooyoung

“Is that so? Well then I can have these two. Don’t worry.” Sooyoung grinned at the thought she was going to eat another one.

“I really wonder what’s inside of your stomach” Fany said while looking at Sooyoung in amazement

“So… why are you here? I mean didn’t you were in Korea?” Yuri asked Sooyoung

“Business trip, remember? I had to handle some problems at L.A headquarters.”

“Another question, why do you know we’re here? In Beverly Center?” Fany asked

“Well, it’s common knowledge. Actually I just know that you will be here” Sooyoung said while making eye contact with Tiffany 

“Because the Tiffany I know will never miss Beverly Center one of the biggest shopping center in L.A. Of course if Fany wants to be here then Yuri will be with her. I’m smart, aren’t I?”

“Yeah…right.” Fany and Yuri said at the same time full of sarcasm.

“I didn’t know our Sooyoung could be this smart” Fany said

“I wasn’t the STS’s founder for nothing, right?” Sooyoung said, totally proud of herself. “Ah, before I forget, I just received a message from my brother who told me to take you with me to the headquarters meeting.”

“Your brother came back from Harvard already?”

“You as in me or Fany?” Yuri asked

“It’s you, Yuri-yah. And yes, he just came back about a week ago. By the way, my brother is also the new STS’s CEO who will be in charge of STS in Korea while I took care of the business here in L.A.”

“Why is it me? Isn’t Fany is the one who got promoted?”

“I don’t know but I know one thing for sure. When you’re called to the headquarter meeting you will either get promoted by two ranks or above or get transferred to work in a foreign country.”

“What? Really?” 

“But don’t worry Yuri-yah, you have me. You’d better get promoted by two ranks or I’ll have a little father-daughter talk with my father.”

“Please don’t argue with your father because of me, I really don’t want any of that.”

“What? Of course not, little talk means bribing, pleading, begging or something like that. I know you Yuri-yah, if you found out I argued with my father because of you, you would quit this job and ran away from me as far as possible.”

Yuri let out a relieved breath, she was really thankful that she had Fany and Sooyoung with her. “I miss you, Sooyoung-ah” Yuri said as she pulled Fany and Sooyoung in for a group hug. Then the duo told Sooyoung what happened in the last few days including seeing the Im Yoona.

&&&&&&

STS’s headquarter in L.A – Conference Room

“Aish, why am I so nervous?” Yuri asked as she glanced at the wrist 

“There’s nothing to be worried about, you have me remember?” Sooyoung assured her friend.

“I know but I ju-” Yuri’s sentence was cut short by the sound of the door opened.

“Oppa!” Sooyoung said while running toward the young man at the door and giving him a hug.

Yuri’s eyes followed Sooyoung’s figure as she ran toward the young man. When Sooyoung released the young man in her tight embrace and moved so that Yuri could see his face. The person who was standing in front of Yuri was someone she knew just days ago.

“Mr. Han?” Yuri asked in disbelief

“Mr. Han? Jeez, oppa, you just have to find such a lame last name like this.” Sooyoung said as she nudged Siwon

“What? It’s the last name popped into my mind first.” Siwon said to his sister and then he turned to Yuri “Let me introduce myself properly for the first time to you. I am Choi Siwon, the next heir of the Choi Corporation since this rascal refuse to do it.” Siwon said while pointing to Sooyoung. 

“So you’re Sooyoung’s brother?” Yuri asked, it was still too much for her to take in one moment.

“Yeah, I’m also the one who arranged for you to go on this cruise ship so that I can have more time to get to know more about your performance in the office.” Siwon explained

“Ah, make sense. That’s why I didn’t know anything about the lottery.” Sooyoung said in realization.

“So, our first meeting, the lottery and the date was to get to know my performance?” Yuri asked

“Yup” Siwon nodded

“Should’ve known better. I know it isn’t my luck” Yuri murmured as she let out a sigh.

“What did you just say?” Siwon asked.

“Ah…It’s nothing. So what are we waiting for?”

“Uhm…I’m waiting for someone. Weird, she should be here by now.” Siwon said looking at his wrist watch.

The door flung opened, entered an old man who was wearing the captain uniform and another girl who was the magnet to Yuri.
As Yoona entered the room, the first thing she noticed wasn’t the CEO who she supposed to address first but the person who was sending death glare to her. Yoona didn’t know why but Yuri seemed to have the ability to outshine those who was besides her. They made eye contact for a moment and then Yoona saw someone else glaring at her. She believed the person is Sooyoung STS’s founder. Yoona finally turned to Siwon.

“So you’re the secret agent sent by the headquarters?” Yoona joked as if he was a secret agent who was carrying an important mission.

“Yeah, looks like I am. This’s what I like about you the most, always make jokes whenever possible that’s why the customer always have a great time when you’re the Cruise Director” Siwon said to Yoona,

“Thanks Mr. Han”

“By the way, my name is Choi Siwon. Han Siwon is a disguise.”

When everyone was settled down, Siwon started to make his announcement. “Well, I’m sure that everyone is curious about this meeting so I’m just gonna make it quick. These past few days I observed both of the cruise’s activities as well as the office’s activities. I think that Yuri has enough knowledge and talent to become a Call Centre Manager but she only has one weakness which is the ability to make a decision which is one of the most important factor to become a leader so she needed someone to help her decide. I also noticed that our company isn't working in sync since the office staff don’t really know what the customers truly want when they go on a cruise ship, on the other hand the cruise staff is the one who understands our customers the most.”

Siwon stopped for a moment for everyone to take in what he just said and then continued “So… I decided to promote Im Yoona who knows the cruise’s activities the best to Sales Manager while Yuri will be promoted to Call Centre Manager. And these two will work together at STS in Korea.”

“Okay… so let me repeat what I just heard. Oppa, you mean that if they want to get a promotion then they have to work together?” Sooyoung asked

“Yeah… you got it right.” 

“Oppa, this is not fair to Yuri. Why does she has to rely on someone else to get a promotion?”

“You know that Yuri can’t make a decision on her own Sooyoung, that’s why I have to assist Yoona to help her. Besides Yuri told me they were old friends so I thought it’ll be much easier if they work together.” 

“But, Opp-” Sooyoung stopped when she felt Yuri squeezed her hand under the table.

“I know it’ll be a difficult decision to both party but you two had to consider carefully. I hope I can get an answer when we came back to Korea. Let’s end this meeting here.” 

TBC